BRAND PREFERENCE OF FAIRNESS

CREAMS IN RURAL AREAS IN LUCKNOW REGION.

By- MOHD AZADMBA IInd year

TOPIC

Fairness creams have become a vital product for the Indian FMCG companies in increasing their overall sales due to the importance given by Indian consumers towards fairness. As India is a country known for its diversity different consumers from different parts of the country prefer different brands. Hence, this paper aims to identify the brand preference of consumers towards fairness creams. The paper also examines the factors influencing consumers in preferring various brands of fairness creams.

Abstract

The data was collected in Lucknow city of India among 150 survey respondents. Keywords: Fairness creams; Brand Preference; Arjunganj,gosaiganj and bakhshi ka talaab .

The market size for fairness cream in India was estimated to be Rs.800 crore. The market growth rate ranges between 15 – 20% on a year-to-year basis. The leading players in the market includes Hindustan Lever Ltd., (HLL's) 'Fair & Lovely' with 76 percent of the market share and Cavin Kare's 'Fairever' with 15percent of the market share. Other important players like Godrej's 'Fairglow', Emami's 'Fair and Handsome', Vicco and Himalaya share the rest of the market share.

Introduction

It has been estimated that males constitute 20 percent of the total sales for fairness creams in India. The existing players are focusing upon improving the quality and ingredients and new players are also invading the Indian market. As India is a country known for its diversity different brands are used in different parts of the country. The brands which are very successful in northern part of the country may not find a place in South India. Similarly some brands are successful in rural areas and tier II cities whereas not in cities and metros.

Here arises the need for a study on brand preference. Hence, this research survey has been conducted in Lucknow city of India to Identify the brand preference for fairness creams in this locality.

The two important measure of brand awareness is brand recognition and recall. (Hoyer and Brown, in 1990,) Kapferer, in 1988 says “top of mind awareness is critical as it captures the ‘consideration set’ in a given purchase situation. (Laurent, Kapferer and Roussel, 1995) Study on recall of pictorial advertisements as compared to non-pictorial advertisements indicate how much more effective they are rural consumers as compared to urban consumers. (Velayudhan, 2002) In some studies, brand preference has been equated with brand loyalty (e.g., Rundle-Thiele and Mackay 2001). In other studies, it has been evaluated as a precursor to brand loyalty (e.g., Odin et al. 2001). Ben-Akiva et al. (1999) define preferences as “comparative judgments between entities.” Additional reasons (other than promotions) why consumers may purchase other brands despite a stated brand preference include a desire to try and learn more about different brands in the category; changing needs or situations; variety seeking; and changes in the available alternatives due to new products or improvements to existing products (Coulter et al. 2003). Alba and Hutchison (1987) propose that experts are more likely to search for new information because (a) expertise increases awareness of the existence of potentially acquirable information and (b) familiarity reduces the cost of information acquisition. Schmidt and Spreng (1996) further postulate that knowledge increases the perceived ability to search and therefore should decrease the perceived costs of search. Greater knowledge has been shown to be positively related to increased involvement with a category (e.g., Raju et al. 1995)

2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE

i. To find out the brand preference for fairness

creams in Lucknow, rural areas.ii. To study the factors influencing brand

preference for fairness creams iii. To identify the source of awareness for fairness creams

Objectives

Primary data has been collected for the research study to know, India. The major reason for choosing its demographic outlook (which includes both educated and uneducated, peoples from different parts of the country particularly from lucknow and changing income level) and being considered as one of the important area of Lucknow. The research design involves descriptive style.

Research Methodology

Consumers of various age groups have been conducted with the research survey. The sample size was 150 and the sampling technique used is convenience sampling. The research instrument used was questionnaire and it comprises both open and close-ended questions. Personal interview has been conducted among the target respondents.

Chances of respondents' bias are involved in the research. As the research is restricted with city of Lucknow, India the results are not applicable to other parts of the State or country. Limited number of respondents has been chosen due to time constraint and this could affect the accuracy of result to certain extent.

Limitations

Table No: 1 Brand Preference and Top of the Mind Awareness (TOMA) for fairness creams*.

Analysis and Interpretation

BRAND PREFERENCE.

NO. OF RESPONDENTS

% ofRespondents

Rank

FAIR & LOVELY 45 30 1

FAIREVER 89 59.33 2

VICCO 3 2 3

NOMARKS 2 1.33 4

FAIR & HANDSOME

1 .67 5

TOTAL 150

OTHERS 10 6.67

Since Brand Preference and Top of the Mind Awareness results are same both have been included in the same table.

Interpretation: From the above table it can be inferred that nearly 60 percent of the respondents prefer HLL's 'Fair & Lovely' when comparing with any other brand. Top of the mind awareness is also same for 'Fair & Lovely'. It can also be inferred that 30 percent of the respondents prefer Cavin Kare's 'Fairever' and are aware of them. Emami's 'Fair & Handsome' has been preferred by very few when comparing with others and the awareness is also poor.

Nra

nd p

refe

renc

e

Fair &

kov

ely

Faire

ver

vicc

o

nom

arks

fair

&ha

ndso

me

othe

rs

Total

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

Series1

Series2

Series3

Series4

Series5

Series1Series2Series3Series4Series5

FACTORS No. ofRespondents

% ofRespondents

Table No:2 Factors influencing brandpreference

FAIRNESS 69 46

SUNSREEN 42 28

FRAGRANCE

39 26

TOTAL 150

Interpretation: It can be inferred from the above table that nearly 50 percent of the respondents use fairness creams in order to get 'fairness

FAMILY MEMBERS RETAILERS RECOMMENDATION0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

% of resp.no.of resp.

SOURCES OF AWARENESS

NO. OF RESPONDENTS

% OF RESPONDENTS

Table No: 3 Source of Awareness forfairness creams

FRIENDS /RELATIVES

13 8.67

FAMILY MEMBERS 15 10

RETAILERS 4 2.67

RECOMMENDATION 80 53.33

TELEVISION 8 5.33

NEWSPAPER/MAGZINES

30 20

TOTAL 150

Interpretation: From the above table it can be inferred that more than 50 percent of the respondents are aware of fairness creams through TVCs.

no.of resp.

FAMILY MEMBERS

RETAILERS

RECOMMENDATION

TELEVISION

NEWSPAPER/MAGZINES

ConsumerIntention

No. ofRespondents

% ofRespondents

Table No:4 Consumer intention towardsReplacing their existing brand of fairnesscreams

To replaceNot to replace

4146

2.6797.33

TOTAL 150

Interpretation: From the above table it can be inferred that more than 95 percent of the respondents are not interested in replacing their existing brand of fairness creams. This shows their 'brand loyalty' towards existing brand of fairness creams

NO.of resp. %of resp.0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

totalnot toto replace

Age No. ofRespondents

% ofRespondents

Table No: 5 Classification of fairnesscream users based on Age

Less than 25 45 30

25 – 35 64 42.67

35 – 45 17 11.33

More than 45 24 16

Total 150

Interpretation: From the above table it can be inferred that most of the respondents who use fairness creams are youngsters as it was clear from the table that 42.67 percent of them belong to the age group of '25 – 35' and 30 percent of them belong to the age group of 'Less than 25‘ Table

less than 25

25-35 35-45 more than 45

TOTAL0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

% of resp. 10 2.67 53.33 5.33 20 %of resp.no.of resp. 15 4 80 8 30 NO.OF RES.

Sex No. ofRespondents

% ofRespondents

Table No: 6 Classification of fairnesscream users based on Sex

MALE 35 23.33%

FEMALE 115 76.66%

TOTAL 150

Interpretation: From the above table it can be inferred that more than 75 percent of the respondents who use fairness creams were 'females'

MALEFEMALETOTAL

EDUCATION No. ofRespondents

% ofRespondents

Table No:7 Classification of fairness creamusers based on Education

SCHOOL 86 57.33

UG 52 34.67

PG 6 4

PROFESSIONAL

2 1.33

DIPLOMA 4 2.67

TOTAL 150

Interpretation: From the above table it can be inferred that nearly 60 percent of the fairness cream users have school level education. It can also be inferred that nearly 35 percent of them have under graduation.

AnnualIncome

No. ofRespondents

% ofRespondents

Table No:8 Classification of fairness creamusers based on Annual Income

LESS THAN RS 1 lakh

128 85.33%

RS 1 -3 LAKH

22 14.67%

TOTAL 150

Interpretation: From the above table it can be inferred that around 85 percent of the fairness cream users have an annual income of less than Rs.1 lakh.

It has been found out that most of the consumers prefer HLL's 'Fair & Lovely' fairness cream. The awareness level of it was also higher for this brand. Consistent portion of them also prefer Cavin Kare's 'Fairever' and were aware of it. Only very few consumers prefer brands like Vicco, No marks, Fair and Handsome and Fair glow. Most of the consumers buy fairness creams in order to get 'fairness'. TVCs play an important role in creating awareness towards various brands of fairness creams.

Findings

As the market has been dominated by few players a new entrant or an existing player interested in improving the market share has to focus on 'fairness' as HLL's USP – Fairness in Six Weeks has worked better for it. The companies have to give importance for TVCs as most of the consumers were remembering the ad of Fair & Lovely television ad and the recent Fairever celebrity ad. Awareness can easily be created with these kinds of celebrity ad appeals.

Suggestions

Fairness creams constitute a consistent proportion of income for the FMCG companies in India. As most of the Indians are very much bothered about their colour complexion the fairness creams enjoy very good market growth rate when compared with other related product categories. As Fair & Lovely's USP has done wonders, other players in the market can also follow their philosophy of 'fairness'. It is not sufficient if a company has the right product with right quality. It has to be communicated properly to the target audience. Hence, TVCs which were widely remembered and recognized by India consumers for fairness creams can be made use for creating the awareness for various brands of fairness creams.

Conclusion

1. Big Brands Big Trouble – Lessons Learned the Hard Why, Jack Trout, East West Books (Madras) Pvt. Ltd.

2. Brand Management – The Indian Context, YLR Moorthi, Vikas Publishing House Pvt. Ltd.

3. Black, White and Various Shades of Brown", Man from , Penguin India

4. "Men playing the fairness cream game", Ratna Bhushan, Times of India

Bibliography